CHILLICOTHE - Following up on an inaugural event in 2017 that beat expectations in many ways, the sophomore offering of The Buck Fifty in April will take lessons learned regarding communications and signage and build toward an even better second year.

Last year's offering of the 150-mile running relay race attracted 351 runners from eight states with the intent of raising money to support the My Attitude Determines Everything (MADE) countywide drug-free clubs initiative. It was organized from an extremely limited budget by a group of dedicated volunteers — the volunteer help is one of the high points of the event, according to Dave Huggins, one of the race coordinators.

"The volunteers who gave all these runners some Ross County hospitality, those volunteers were the rock stars of the weekend," Huggins said. "They welcomed people in, cheered on the runners and, in many cases, gave our runners the gift of purpose and community. We heard it many times over that our runners had never seen a community rally around an event like this."

Those individuals and organizations that helped make a difference included event volunteers, drug-free clubs members from area schools, area law enforcement, churches and others.

A second area in which Huggins felt organizers beat expectations was in the amount of time spent planning an event that was well-organized and ended with relatively few problems.

That does not say there weren't lessons taken away from 2017 that couldn't be brought to bear in 2018. One involves communications, trying to keep up with the "ton of texts, phone calls and emails blasted out constantly during the race."

"We will have a complete radio system for next year's race that will keep us all connected and, heaven forbid, keep us in contact with EMS and law enforcement if any problems arise," Huggins said. "The other area we have made improvements will come from our route signage. We met with Rocal in Frankfort over the summer who made for us 6-by-10 highway reflective signs that will help our runners around the course in 2018. Those signs will be something we can use for years to come and are very easy to see for runners to know where to turn.

"We also are using the app Race Joy this year, which will help our runners navigate each leg through GPS tracking and it will allow our Buck Fifty headquarters to see all the runners on the course during the race. Teams can use the Race Joy app at no cost and they can then watch their teammates on the course and know how soon they will arrive at each checkpoint. They can even send their runners messages during the run with words of encouragement."

Planning for the 2018 event began shortly after the 2017 race ended, and thus far there are 50 teams registered, with Huggins believing they can reach 70 by the time registration closes Feb. 1. Teams registered so far come from all over the Midwest and as far away as California and Florida. Four of the top eight sponsorships have been sold to National Church Residences, First Capital Rotary, Agenter Orthodontics and the U.S. Army, almost all of the 29 checkpoint volunteers plan to return and 75 percent of the teams who raced last spring plan to return in 2018.

Huggins said a common denominator among those involved in the event is a desire to see the MADE program a success for the students who have made a commitment to stay off drugs.

"Nothing can stop a team who is driven by passion and purpose," Huggins said. "Those 2,395 kids are just the right motivator."